Tag Archives: Eiffel Tower

Martyrs’ Day has been observed as a public holiday since 1970 to honor the fallen heroes of Arab nationalism. The date, May 6, was selected to commemorate the 21 Arab intellectuals who were hanged on that date in 1916 in Beirut, Lebanon, and Damascus, Syria, by an official of the occupying Ottoman Empire. On Martyrs’ Day, ceremonies of public commemoration are led by government officials in Beirut at Martyrs’ Square, named in honor of the murdered nationalists. Officials and citizens also lay wreaths at martyrs’ monuments in Beirut and throughout the country. More…Discuss

Opening of the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower officially opened to the public on March 31, 1889. Constructed of 7,000 tons of iron and steel, the 984-foot structure was designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel for the Paris Exhibition of 1889, commemorating the centennial of the French Revolution. The price for the Eiffel Tower was more than $1 million, but fees for the year 1889 alone nearly recouped the cost. Fifty-five years later, plans by Hitler to leave the tower and much of Paris a smoking ruin were foiled by an unlikely hero, Dietrich von Choltitz.

The Leaning Tower is the freestanding bell tower of a cathedral in Pisa, Italy. Though designed to stand upright, Pisa’s most famous landmark began leaning soon after construction began in 1173. In 1964, Italy’s government enlisted the aid of a multinational task force to prevent the tower from toppling, but the tilt remained so severe that the tower was closed to the public in 1990. After another decade of stabilization efforts, it was reopened in 2001. What first caused it to lean? More…Discuss

At the age of 100, Calment was still riding a bicycle around her native Arles, France. She lived on her own until she was 110 and smoked until she was 117. She saw the Eiffel Tower being built and remembered selling colored pencils to Vincent van Gogh as a girl in her family’s shop. By the time she died in 1997 at the age of 122, Calment had lived the longest confirmed human life in history—and outlived her entire family. What foods have been cited as contributing to Calment’s longevity? More…Discuss

Maupassant was a 19th-century French writer considered one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protégé of Gustave Flaubert, Maupassant wrote with a simplicity, clarity, and objective calm that emulated the style of his mentor. He first gained attention with “Boule de Suif,” or “Ball of Fat,” and eventually published about 300 short stories, many of which are said to be unsurpassed in their genre. Why did Maupassant often dine at the restaurant at the base of the Eiffel Tower? More…Discuss